I met Millie Hull through my husband. Millie and her husband Don went to high school with Jaron. Jaron and Don were snowmobiling buddies. We would occasionally go to dinner as couples, but Millie and I didn't know each other that well. Don and Millie moved to Hawaii for a few years for work. While they were there, they called and said, "Hey, if you guys ever plan on coming to Hawaii, now is the time to do it because you can stay with us, we have cars, we have the local connections, we know all the hot spots, etc." So we took them up on it (that was in 2005). Ever since then, Millie and I have been great friends. She was a nanny in Boston before she got married and has a little sister, Annie, who is living there now, but plans on moving home soon. So Millie and her mom planned a trip out to see Annie. In no time it became a huge girl's trip because I ended up going along and so did Millie's best friend from high school, Amber. We had a trip of a lifetime! Millie and I drove 12 hours to Portland to drop off my kids to my parents then hopped an almost 6 hour flight to Boston. When we got there, we stayed with Annie and her roommates in this way old house turned into an apartment. Our first day Millie, Amber, and I took a road trip up to the Maine Coast and had some lobster. Next we toured Boston for a few days then the 5 of us hopped in Annie's teeny-tiny toyota tercel to make a 3 hour drive to New York. We thought we could save money by staying outside of Manhattan, so we got a hotel in Queens. I have to say, it was a very adventurous part of our trip. The dingy hotel, the subway, the wrong bus we got on at 11 p.m., the creepy escort services trying to offer us a ride--yeah. But, it was so amazing, like nothing I've ever done. The shopping was sooo fun. That huge city was like it's own world! We went to two Broadways--"Wicked" and "The Little Mermaid." Going to a Broadway is something I cannot describe. I LOVED IT!! I swear, if I lived in NYC (and had $$) I would go to a Broadway at least once a week! There is nothing like it. The smell of the subway is disgusting. We ate at Bubba Gump's on time square twice (my favorite restaurant.) Our feet would just ache at the end of the night. NYC is so perfect as a girl's trip. I just don't think Jaron would get the same joy out of it. A week of shopping and Broadway plays, who could ask for more? I would go back every year if I could. If we thought it was tight in Annie's car on the way up (I don't know why I always say "up," NY is down from Boston), we were definitely in for a sardine-packed commute back to Boston with the shopping of 5 women. I was so car sick. I have come to appreciate Dramamine the way I used to as a kid. Boston has such a clean, friendly atmosphere compared to NYC. Boston is such a cute, old, historic, beautiful city. We would just walk the old brick-paved streets and admire the architecture. We had awesome food while we were there. We ate at an Indian Bistro, an authentic Spanish restaurant, and a quaint little Italian restaurant in the North End. It was interesting to me, however, the amount of Dunkin Donuts that dot that coast. During our whole trip, at any given time, I swear there were always at least 2 Dunkin Donuts in close quarters (and ya know, the donuts really weren't even that impressive). But oh man, the ice cream. We had the best ice cream sometimes 2 times a day! The most dreadful part of the trip was the 6 hour flight back to Portland, which we got in at like 11 pm, then packed up and were on the road home by 1 am. We drove through the night and were home by 2 pm to enjoy at least a few hours of Mother's Day.
